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Women tend to manage household spending, read a headline in yesterday’s AD daily. In almost half of all families it’s the woman who decides where the money goes, according to research by Dutch bank ING. Groceries, clothes, holidays or a new bike: we’ll deal with it. And yet, in two-thirds of all households, it’s still the man who earns most of the cash. Not surprising, cause Dutch women tend to work part-time or have lower paid jobs, like in education or healthcare. Men tend to be older than their partners and are ahead on their carreer paths. And, sad but true, men still make more than women, even in the exact same position, with the same level of experience and education.
But in many households, there’s more to it than simply part-time jobs or unequal pay. In those households, women don’t work at all, or not enough to make a living. 3 million women in this country are completely dependent on their husband’s income. Nothing wrong with that? Their right to choose? Sure, who am I to say that those women should all find a full-time job. If they have no problem being kept by their man and to look after kids and household in exchange for his credit card, more power to them. But ladies, please make sure you can hold your own. Of course we all like to believe in fairy tales with knights in shining armour and “happily ever after”. Reality is, alas, less of a fairy tale: more than one out of three marriages ends in divorce. Now, the chance of your home being caught in a fire is about one in a thousand. And yet, we are insured for that, aren’t we? So I say: smart girls come prepared. Even for the end of their fairy tale.